Fruit-drying tray.



a Wm; 4% W464 Patented Oct. 24, I899.

- S. H. CHASE.

FRUIT DRYING TRAY.

(Apphcntlon filed Apr 27 1899) (No Model.)

WWW/sow, W

THE non NITED STATES PATENT Fries.

STEPHEN H. CHASE, OF SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA.

FRUIT-DRYING TRAY.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 635,423, dated October24, 1899.

Application filed April 27, 1899.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, STEPHEN H. CHASE, a citizen of the United States,residing at San Jose, county of Santa Clara, State of California, haveinvented an Improvement in Fruit- Drying Trays; and I hereby declare thefol lowing to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same.

My invention relates to improvements in trays which are especiallydesigned for drying fruit by exposure to the sun and atmosphere.

It consists, essentially, in the novel feature of a tray having aventilating open-slat bottom and ventilating-openings upon the sides.

It also comprises details of construction which will be more fullyexplained by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1is a view of a single tray. shows the trays stacked up.

In the construction of fruit-trays for drying purposes it has beencustomary to make these trays with close sides and a close bottom, or insome cases the bottoms have been made by the use of wire-screenmaterial; but for the purposes of drying by the sun and atmosphere wherethe trays are laid upon the ground the bottoms have been usually closedto keep the fruit away from the ground. It is customary to expose thefruit to the sun and air for a considerable period, and after it ispartly dried the trays are stacked up one on top of the other to allowthe fruit to undergo what is termed a sweating process before thecompletion of the drying, as this improves the quality of the fruit.When such trays are made with close sides and close bottoms, there is noventilation, and the process is incomplete and inferior. In my inventionI have so constructed the trays as, first, to keep the fruit raised outof actual contact with the ground when the trays are spread thereon,and, second, to provide a space heneath for the free circulation of airand also to provide for such free circulation when the trays are stackedup in piles.

The trays may be made of any suitable or convenient size. I have foundthat a very convenient size is about eight feet in length by three feetin width, the sides A being made of material about one and one-halfinches by Fig. 2

Serial No. 714,628. (No model.)

five-eighths of an inch and the ends B about one and one-fourth byfive-eighths of an inch. Longitudinal strips C are nailed lengthwisefrom end to end, having spaces between them sufficient for freecirculation of air without being so wide as to allow the fruit to bepressed into the channels, especially in the case of very soft ripefruits. The thickness of these longitudinal strips is about one-fourthof an inch, and being nailed to the ends, which are one and one-fourthinches deep, this brings the bottom of these strips on a level with thebottom of the side strips, which are one and one-half inches deep.Across the ends of these strips and below the end pieces B of the trayare nailed thin strips D, and intermediate between these strips arenailed transverse pieces E, which are of considerably-greater thickness.

F are thin strips of material which are nailed to the ends of thecross-strips beneath the side bars A, and the thickness of the crossbars E is such as to leave a considerable space between the strips F andthe strips A. The ends of the strips F are brought up against the thintransverse cross-strips D and are also nailed thereto, thus giving thesestrips a curvature upward between the last of the strips E and thestrips D. This provides a space beneath the bottom slats C of the tray,so that when the trays are set upon the ground there will be a freecirculation beneath and through them, and the fruit and tray-bottom arekept out of actual contact with the ground. In this manner the dryingproceeds with much greater rapidity and is better equalized upon bothsides. 7

By reason of the less depth of the sides there will be no shadows uponthe fruit which is close to these sides when the sun is at any height.

In order to pile these trays properly, I have shown side pieces G nailedupon the side bars Aand to the cross-strips, and these side pieces havetheir ends beveled, as shown. These bevels may be made in eitherdirection, and as they are at an equal distance from the ends of all thetrays when the trays are piled up these beveled ends interlock, and thushold the trays in position and prevent their slipping to one side or theother. The longitudinal strips F upon each side rest upon the top of thestrips A below, and the spaces between the strips A and F are sufficientto form open channels along the sides through which the free circulationof air takes place.

In some cases it may be found desirable to make the bottoms of the traysclose, in which case I am enabled to use very thin material, likeveneer, on account of the support which is given to the bottom of theboards beneath.

Hzwing thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecu re by Letters Patent, is

1. A fruit-tray consisting of sides, ends of less depth than the sidesnailed thereto, bottom slats nailed to the ends having open spacesbetween said slats having a thickness equal to the difference in depthbetween the side and end pieces of the tray whereby the bottom of theslats are flush with the lower edges of the said strips,transverse barsnailed across the bottom and sides of the tray at intervals and stripsof less thickness nailed across beneath the ends of the trays and sidestrips nailed to the bottom of the cross-bars in line beneath the siderails of the tray, said strips curving upwardly at each end and nailedto the transverse strips thereon.

2. A fruit-drying tray consisting of sides, ends and interspacedlongitudinal bottom strips with cross-bars beneath, and side stripsnailed thereto in line beneath the side rails of the box, and pieceshaving the upper and lower ends beveled and adapted to engage andinterlock said pieces being nailed to the sides of the tray so as tostand in vertical line when the trays are piled one upon another.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

STEPHEN Il. CHASE. Witnesses:

S. II. NOURSE, JnssIE O. BRonm.

